Hour Of Need
by stubzs87
Summary: "If you need anything at all, at any time, you can call me." She could hear his voice seeping into her mind, remembering the time he first gave her his number. But nervousness continued to plague her. Her thumb hit the message icon instead and she began typing out a text, erased it, typed a new one, and erased it again. Sequel to Buenas Noches


Author's Notes: Sorry for the lack of updates to this series, but I've been trying to finish this series and I'm sort of writing out of order so sometimes I have to make sure I'm making everything line up properly. Thank you to those of you who have enjoyed reading this series~

Text in Italics = Thoughts  
Text or quotes in bold = Emphasis on words  
Centered text or quotes = Flashbacks.

* * *

Asuka woke with a gasp, a thin sheen of sweat coating her body, the specter of her nightmare still looming over her.

_It's just a dream. It's just a dream. Just a dream,_ she told herself, willing her racing heart to slow its pace. And yet she had a hard time looking up from her fringe of hair to her surroundings, the feeling of a malevolent presence pressing down on her.

"It's just a dream," she said aloud through clenched teeth and looked up. Nothing greeted her except for her darkened room.

Asuka had been having recurring nightmares on and off for the past few weeks, ever since her father "met" Shinsuke. They started out as fleeting dream fragments that hardly bothered her, slowly escalating into night terrors.

This night was different.

Though the world of the awake became more real with each passing second, it did not chase away the fresh horror wrought from her hyper-realistic dream, a subconscious trek into a memory. A male pinning her down, a shape and face she once knew. Asuka could still feel his hands, the pain, the fear, and betrayal.

A shudder went through her and her hand automatically went to grab her phone on the bedside table, stopped short, hovering over the device. She picked it up with hesitance, opened her contacts, thumb hovering over Shinsuke's name.

_"If you need anything at all, at any time, you can call me."_

She could hear his voice seeping into her mind, remembering the time he first gave her his number. But nervousness continued to plague her. Her thumb hit the message icon instead and she began typing out a text, erased it, typed a new one, and erased it again.

This was another ritual Asuka had gone through after each bad dream. She would yearn to contact Shinsuke but something stayed her hand every time. She had already called her father, discussed the nightmares with him, hoping it would help dispel them. They only seemed to grow worse.

Her father told her to talk to Shinsuke when she expressed how she wanted to call her boyfriend after her nightmares. She explained that she didn't want to burden him with her problems, especially in the middle of the night. "If he's a good man, he wouldn't mind any burden no matter the time," said father said with a sniff.

Biting her lip tight between her teeth, Asuka finally pressed the call icon and tentatively pressed the phone to her ear. Her heart thudded faster with each ring. _Get it together…_she willed herself to let it ring and ring though she wanted to hang up after the third one.

"Hello?" a sleep-roughed voice answered, making her wince.

"S-Sorry Shinsuke," she whispered meekly.

"Asuka?" Shinsuke's voice became immediately alert.

"Sorry for calling at this hour…I…I-I can call back t-tomorrow."

"No, it's okay. I can talk now." he replied, a hurried rush of words as though he was afraid she would hang up. Asuka heard a faint rustling. "Are you okay?"

Asuka closed her eyes tight, driving away the tears. "…I-It was a…bad dream…"

"A bad dream?" Shinsuke repeated. "More homesickness like before?"

"N-No," she couldn't keep the tremble from her answer.

When she said nothing more he asked, "Would you like to come over?" There was more rustling.

"T-Thank you, Shinsuke, b-but that's not…" she stumbled over her words in her embarrassment. "It's n-not necessary…"

"I don't buy that. Besides I'm already halfway dressed now. You don't have to answer your door if you don't want to, but I won't be able to get any more sleep if I don't do something to help."

Asuka bit the inside of her cheek, feeling guilt-ridden for waking Shinsuke up and worrying him, all over a bad dream, albeit a dreadful one. Her voice came out small, "You don't have to worry about me so much…" she tried to put more authority into her tone, but failed.

"Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't?" There was earnestness beneath his teasing. "Hang on, I'll be over in a few minutes."

"A-Alright…" she conceded, knowing she couldn't sway him.

After ending the call Asuka looked down at herself, wondering if she should get dressed too. In the end, she forwent changing out of her sleep clothes and went into the living room, heart tattooing the inside of her ribs as she waited for him to arrive.

A small eon passed before she heard the knock on her front door. Asuka nearly tripped over herself when she moved to answer it. When she opened the door she found Shinsuke dressed haphazardly in a rumbled t-shirt, board shorts, and flip flops, his hair tossed up in a messy bun. His eyes looked tired but a smile lit up his face when he saw her. Then his expression flickered to concern as he studied her.

"Oh Asuka," Shinsuke murmured, cupping her face in his large hands. "C'mere." His hands drew her to him and he embraced her.

Asuka buried her face hard in his chest, a sniffle escaping unbidden from her throat. However, she kept the worst of her tears at bay.

"Let it out," he encouraged soothingly, stroking her hair.

She fought the welling emotion for a moment longer before it became too much and opened up, a broken dam of tears raining down her cheeks and onto his shirt. Her throat became raw with sobs, letting out her fear, her anger, her sorrow.

Without breaking contact, Shinsuke slipped out of his flip flops and gingerly walked her over to the couch, sitting her down. He joined her, pressed her close to his side, speaking softly and peppering her forehead with kisses every now and then.

Asuka's cries calmed to a slow trickle after a little while, her boyfriend's company chasing away the remaining vestiges of her night terrors. Shinsuke rose and grabbed her some tissues. "T-Thank you," she said as she accepted them, her voice feeble and mildly nasally. She wiped at her eyes and tearstained cheeks, then blew her nose. The sound of her sinuses clearing was loud and mortifying.

"Hmm…who knew so much sound can come out of you," he grinned, attempting to poke her nose.

Asuka hid her nose and blush behind the tissue. "Stop. I know it was horrendous…"

"I prefer beautifully flawed." The back of his hand caressed the length of her cheek, calloused and warm.

Her blush intensified and she leaned into his touch, lowering the tissue from her face so that he might give it more attention.

"So this bad dream…did you want to talk about it?" he inquired gently.

She stiffened as the nightmare resurfaced just as easily as if it never slipped away. Pulling away from his hand her eyes found his, then drifted down to her hands.

_I should tell him. I will._

Asuka parted her lips, but no sound came out. Her mouth felt dry as dust, choking what she hoped to say into a heavy silence. Once, twice, three times she tried to speak, but it felt like the words felt held hostage in her throat by anxiety.

_I…can't…_

She looked up at him in wordless apology, feeling miserable at her failing.

Even though he didn't press her for a response, Shinsuke's brow became briefly pinched with silent distress. "It's okay," he assured, swiping away a fresh tear with his thumb. "

She fell into his arms again. "Thank you," she whispered against his neck.

Shinsuke wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in his body heat and the comforting scent of him – pine and ocean. She felt safe and secure like this with him. Once more the grip the nightmares and past memories had over her faded and she locked them in a box deep in her mind for the time being.

"Don't worry," he said, lightly kissing her lips. "Whenever you need me, I'm here."

His words, the fleeting taste of him, caused a new yearning for him and Asuka pursued his mouth for a deeper kiss, nibbling his lower lip. Shinsuke sucked in a breath before opening his mouth to her, meeting her with matching fervor. Her thumb brushed idly at the stubble at his jaw then trailed down the long column of his neck. She dared not go further than the neck of his shirt. Shinsuke's hand rested on her knee, slid no higher than mid-thigh. They lost themselves in each other while respecting unspoken boundaries.

Breathless and lips reddened, they reluctantly parted, puffs of air mingling between them.

"Well that was a pleasant distraction," Asuka said, lungs billowing in her chest.

Shinsuke purred with a kitsune smile, "Glad to be of service."

Asuka quickly grabbed the remote off her coffee table with a flourish, worried (eager) that his husky voice and whiskey eyes might melt her resolve not to jump him. "Wanna watch TV?"

Shinsuke blinked long lashes then shrugged. "Why not?"

"What would you like to watch?" she asked him while flicking listlessly through the channels to find something of interest. If she were honest she hadn't the first clue as to what shows were good and what stations they would be. She only used her television for gameplay or for looking at the local news and weather, sometimes the occasional movie.

He lifted a shoulder again. "I really don't watch a whole lot of television here."

"Good! Me neither!" Asuka chirped awkwardly. _Smooth…_

She continued frantically hitting the channel button in hopes of something about food or surfing would show up. _Oh, cute cartoon bears~_ She paused curiously on the cartoon. There was a brown bear, a polar bear, and a panda bear. Oddly, instead of walking on all fours and sticking to the woods, they acted like people and visited the city. And the people in the city seemed to accept that as normal.

Glancing at Shinsuke, she tried to gauge his reaction. His expression appeared blank. Asuka chewed on her lip and changed the channel.

"Wait, change it back," he urged.

Asuka switched it back and gradually they both became engrossed in the brotherhood of the three species of bears – Grizz, Panda, and Ice bear – and all the humans they called friends. It had been a long time since she indulged herself cartoons, but something about the show We Bare Bears drew her in. Maybe it was the simplicity of the animation, or the acceptance all the characters had for one another. Maybe her exhausted and frazzled brain found them amusing.

Before she knew it they were four episodes into the series and she was drifting off on Shinsuke's shoulder. Some unknown time passed after that which she dozed. She woke up in Shinsuke's arms as he carried her to bed. When he laid her down, she clung sleepily to his warmth, not wanting to lose it.

"Stay," she rasped a weak demand.

Shinsuke huffed out a sigh that morphed into a chuckle. "Scoot over then."

"So you can make your getaway when I'm asleep?" she teased.

"Never~" he shouted and leaped over her, his weight causing the bed to bounce. A peel of laughter rushed out of Asuka as he grabbed her around the waist. He hauled her so they lay back to chest and nuzzled her cheek. "You want me to stay the night, so I'm staying the **whole** night as your personal teddy bear."

Asuka shifted in his arms, facing him. She snuggled against him, burrowing further into their little cocoon of blankets. Shinsuke had been her personal teddy bear many times before while they were on the road. But somehow with him sharing her own bed, it felt much more special.

"Sorry I've been such trouble for you," she said quietly, hand clinging to the front of his shirt.

"Yes, you are trouble," he replied and she looked up at him with a wounded expression. He shushed her with a kiss. "But you're the kind of trouble I like. Now I won't hear anymore apologizing, only snoring."

"I don't snore~" Asuka pouted.

Shinsuke chortled secretively.

"I **don't** snore," she insisted.

"You don't snore like a chainsaw, that's for sure. Ow!" He rubbed at his chest where she pinched him – which may have been a little close to a nipple. It was his turn to pout. "But you're cute when you snore~"

"I dooon't…" she yawned widely. "Snore."

"Less arguing, more snoozing, yes?"

Asuka nodded mutely and returned her face to the crook of his neck. Quality banter with Shinsuke took up more energy than she had at the moment.

"Thank you, Shinsuke" she mumbled tiredly.

Sheltered in his embrace, she floated into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
